GETTING STARTED IN THE CRAFTby Fiona Oceanstar (fi@whittaker.rice.edu)

Western vs. Eastern mystery traditions --> one of
the first things you need to conceptualize, if you're interested in
witchcraft, is that it's a WESTERN mystery tradition. The important
dichotomy here is outer-vs.-inner. In the Eastern
traditions, the adept commonly seeks some sort of mystical union with
the great Oneness, which implies a withdrawal from the
common, everyday life of human beings, and a focus on one's internal
processes. In the Western traditions, the adept is very
much a part of the activities and community of humankind. A witch
does indeed have a special awareness of their inner world and their connection
with the all-permeating Oneness (Goddess), but a witch is also a member
of society--a farmer, a healer, a parent, a warrior, a writer, a scientist,
an artist, a computer programmer, etc. In becoming a witch, you don't
dissociate your spiritual life from the rest of your life--rather, you
apply the principles of the Craft in everything you do. You seek
to take what you have learned on an inner level and MANIFEST that awareness
on an outer level. This is not to be confused with the Christian
dichotomy of works vs. faith. Witches don't have to BELIEVE
in anything--they are much too concrete, too practical for such notions.
The rituals of the Craft all get down to the same thing: sanctifying the
everyday activities of your life. When a witch makes love, writes
a program, cooks a meal, rides a bike, these are all the rituals of the
Goddess.

What to do:
--learn some simple form of meditation, and practice
it often, the idea being to master the art of a QUIET MIND. In
order to be attentive to the world
around you, you have to learn to let go of the inner chattering.

T.S. Eliot (in "East Coker") puts it this way:
"...the mind is conscious, but conscious of nothing--
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait
without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there
is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all
in the
waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for
thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness
the
dancing."

Listen to everything. Above all, listen to your body. Starhawk
recommends a regular program of exercise, and I agree.
Again, it quiets the mind.

--get in touch with the movements of the Earth and
the Moon. Get a calender that has Moon phases, and make a point
of knowing what phase you're in,
at all times. Notice the differences between the dark of the moon
(empty but ready for
new birth), the new moon (time
for initiating things), the waxing moon (growing in power), the full moon
(peak of
intensity), and the waning moon
(fading, turning inward, consolidating gains). If you are a woman,
pay attention to your
menstrual cycle, and how it matches
up with the phases of the moon. If you are a man, get in touch with
the cycle of a
female friend or lover.
Get out under the moon as much as possible. When She is full, lie
in a grassy field or on a rooftop
and LISTEN to her.

--pay attention to the natural world: the seasons,
the plants, the insects, everything around you. If you can, go out
hiking and
camping as much as possible--alone,
or with someone else who can be silent and observant. Even in the
city, even in a
very restricted urbanized environment,
you can see things of nature all around you. Try to walk to work,
if possible. Go
out in your back yard and sit
on the grass and look at the world close up. When inside, observe your
pets and your fellow
human beings. We are all
flesh: we have smells, we have appetites. When you have sex, try
to forget the cultural context
(lace underwear, etc.) and focus instead
on the body, the pleasures of the body. When you play music, let
your body
dance.

What to read:
--for the rational side of you --> Margot Adler's
Drawing Down the Moon (a good overview of many pagan systems)
--for the spiritual side --> Starhawk's Spiral
Dance

But reading is less important than observing.
You will be tempted to try to become a witch by reading, because those
of us
w/ big brains and big educations always operate that way. Try
to keep a balance between hours spent reading, and hours spent walking
in the woods.

Other references:
--Joseph Campbell's PBS series on mythology is now
available on video. He's a good storyteller and has a wonderful
philosophy of how to incorporate
myth into your life.

Objects/tools/toys:
--anything can be a tool for working magic and gaining
understanding (a leaf, a stone, a pen, a plastic dinosaur)--it's
all in what you invest it with
--be slow to acquire toys (blades, wands, etc.)--it's
better if they find you, then your finding them
--more important than a lot of gidgets, is setting
aside a special place in your home as an altar. Start with candles
and
incense, and invent simple rituals:
lighting a candle while you read, burning incense while you meditate.
--because it's nonverbal in form, the Tarot is actually
a better source for learning about the Craft, than any book. Seek
out one of the less Christianized
decks--I personally like the Barbara Walker and the Motherpeace.

Sacred space:
--the first formal "magic" you should learn, is
how to set aside sacred space. Pick a place in your home or your
yard where
you will practice this, and practice
often, even if at first it makes you feel self-conscious.

I realize that a lot of this sounds terribly vague.
I used to get frustrated when I read books about the Craft, and they didn't
have, like, RECIPES to perform. The hard part of it is, that
you learn more from the Goddess, than you do from any human being. But
that doesn't mean you can't do some simple spells, right from the very
beginning: both Adler's and Starhawk's books have some straightforward
descriptions of working magic.

Don't get hung up on issues of reality, or the unknown,
or the verifiable, or whatever. Just DO. It's far more important
to TRY things, than it is to READ about them.